DRC / WHO EBOLA VACCINES

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17-May-2018
00:03:07

While the first 4,000 doses of Ebola vaccines landed in Kinshasa on Wednesday (16 May), WHO in Geneva was receiving an additional batch of 2,000 doses from Merck that are due to be shipped to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the coming days. The vaccines will help battle an outbreak of Ebola virus disease that was declared in early May in northwestern DRC. WHO

1. Various shots, courier delivering and WHO staff receiving boxes with the vaccines
2. Various shots, member of WHO’s logistics team empting dry ice from a box carrying vaccines
3. Close up, temperature reader that was in the box during transport
4. Various shots, Dr Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, Co-technical lead of the WHO R&D Blueprint, checking the temperature during transport
5. Close up, Computer screen with the temperature’s chart
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, Co-technical lead of the WHO R&D Blueprint:
“The cold chain that is required to maintain this vaccine and store it until the point of delivery requires us to maintain -60 to -80 degrees. It is true, we have the technology today to maintain that in the field, but it still remains a challenge.”
7. Various shots, logistics team member unpacking the vaccines and putting into a refrigerator
8. Various shots, paper with information about the vaccine
9. Various shots, exterior of Hopitaux Universitaires Geneve (HUG)
10. Wide shot, Dr Peter Salama walking
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response, WHO:
“Well, the biggest challenge in this response is that now we know that we have suspected cases in an urban centre in Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past in most of the Ebola outbreaks in DRC, it’s been rural and fairly self-limited, but now we know that populations of more than a million are at risk. Another major issue here is that this centre of Mbandaka is on the banks of Congo River, and that river connects to the internal hinterland of DRC but also to surrounding countries such as Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic, so this outbreak now has a real risk of national and regional amplification.”
16 MAY 2018, MBANDAKA, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
12. Various shots, exterior of Wangata Hospital
13. Various shots, health information poster on Ebola
16 MAY 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response, WHO:
“We estimate now that that would cost around 25 million dollars, the first three months of the operation. But it is a cost that is worth investing now, because we know from Ebola West Africa experience that that cost the international community between 3-4 billion US dollars. So much better to invest now. That is of course beside the fact that most importantly, we lost 11,000 people in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And we really have an opportunity here with the game changing technology of vaccines to actually prevent large-scale suffering and death.”

STORYLINE:

While the first 4,000 doses of Ebola vaccines landed in Kinshasa on Wednesday (16 May), WHO in Geneva was receiving an additional batch of 2,000 doses from Merck that are due to be shipped to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the coming days.
The vaccines will help battle an outbreak of Ebola virus disease that was declared in early May in northwestern DRC.

The Ministry of Health – with support from WHO, Gavi, Médecins Sans Frontières and other health partners – is preparing to conduct ring vaccination Ring vaccination: a protocol in which contacts, and the contacts of contacts, are vaccinated shortly after a case is detected. of high-risk populations in affected health zones as soon as possible.

“The cold chain that is required to maintain this vaccine and store it until the point of delivery requires us to maintain -60 to -80 degrees. It is true, we have the technology today to maintain that in the field, but it still remains a challenge,” says Dr Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, Co-technical lead of the WHO R&D Blueprint.

Although most of the 44 suspected, probable and confirmed cases reported to date are in Bikoro and Iboko health zones, 1 new case was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on 16 May in Mbandaka city, which has a population of nearly 1.2 million people.
Dr Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and Response, said controlling the virus once it has reached a large urban area is particularly challenging.

He said, “The biggest challenge is that now we know that we have suspected cases in an urban centre in Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past in most of the Ebola outbreaks in DRC, it’s been rural and fairly self-limited, but now we know that populations of more than a million are at risk. Another major issue here is that Mbandaka is on the banks of Congo River, and that river connects to the internal hinterland of DRC but also to surrounding countries such as Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic, so this outbreak now has a real risk of national and regional amplification."

Within a week of the outbreak being declared, WHO released US$2 million from the Contingency Fund for Emergencies to fund operations and WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led a high-level delegation to Kinshasa and Bikoro. WHO estimates that the response operation will cost over US$25 million and is appealing for international support.

Dr. Salama said, “We estimate now that that would cost around US$25 million, the first three months of the operation. But it is a cost that is worth investing now, because we know from Ebola West Africa experience that that cost the international community between US$3-4 billion. So much better to invest now. That is of course beside the fact that, most importantly, we lost 11,000 people in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And we really have an opportunity here with the game changing technology of vaccines to actually prevent large-scale suffering and deaths.”